Marko increases the pressure: 'Decision on Perez in summer break'

Marko further increases pressure on Perez

Marko confirms that there is a performance clause in Perez's F1 contract, although the 81-year-old Austrian stresses that there is one in every contract. What Perez may have more to fear is the two races remaining before the summer break: indeed, it has been suggested that this is the deadline for the Mexican to improve.

Marko seems to confirm those suggestions. "We have a situation where our second driver unfortunately isn’t performing as he should. So we will have an evaluation in the summer break of what we are going to do," he is quoted by grandprix247.com. "We will have an evaluation during the summer break and then we will make a decision."

The top adviser stressed that Red Bull is not looking for "the new Max Verstappen". Therefore, according to Marko, even Perez's possible replacement should not be under the illusion that he can simply beat the three-time world champion. "It will be difficult for anyone to be his teammate," he states.

Red Bull has plenty of options for both its own team and its sister team VCARB. These include Liam Lawson and 16-year-old Arvid Lindblad, an up-and-coming Formula 3 talent from the Red Bull Junior Team. "For his age, he’s very mature and a lot of confidence like Liam Lawson. It might be the best thing to give them first a year at VCARB and then move up to Red Bull Racing. But they have, of course, to get more ready and they can’t go straightaway and say we will beat Max," Marko continued.

"Maybe Lawson or Lindblad will be ready in two or three years for Red Bull Racing. Not sure if Max will be racing at the time. If Max feels he doesn’t enjoy F1 anymore, he doesn’t want it he will come to us and say thank you, that’s it."

This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy